Heroin and Cornflakes

“……The goal must be to pursue al-Qaeda to every hiding place, to continue to disrupt their operations, and continue ultimately to work towards their destruction so that they do not represent a threat to this country….”

Director of Central Intelligence Agency, Leon E. Panetta,(1)

“Terrorism is the greatest threat of the 21st century,” a phrase often uttered by our leading politicians.

But does this statement hold true?

First, what is ‘terrorism’?

In modern times, ‘terrorism’ usually refers to the killing of innocent people by a private group in such a way as to create a media spectacle. (2)

However, many news sources (such as Reuters) avoid using this term, opting instead for less accusatory words like ‘bombers’, ‘militants’, ‘high-jackers’ etc.

At present, there is no internationally agreed definition of ‘terrorism’. Common definitions of ‘terrorism’ refer only to those violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror) and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (civilians).(3)

The ‘car crash’ is a violent act that disregards the safety of civilians.

Should the perpetrator of this act be considered a ‘terrorist’?

Not under U.S. Law.  According to their interpretation, acts of  ‘terrorism’ are classed as premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets.(4)

Why mention the ‘car crash’?

While not politically motivated, unless used in conjunction with explosives, and not media friendly, we suggest that this act of terror is, and has been, a greater threat to non-combatants (civilians) worldwide, than that of the ‘terrorist’.

Let’s look at few numbers.

In the past 38 years, according to the MIPT-RAND Corporation database records, on average, 375 deaths per year worldwide are due to terrorism. This compares roughly with the same number of people who drown in bathtubs in the United States alone (about 320).

Lets narrow it down and take a look at the U.S.A:

0: People killed in the USA by terrorism/WMD in 2009. Was Fort Hood terrorism? -  if so, 13 died. (5)

0: People killed in the USA by terrorism/WMD in 2008.

0: People killed in the USA by terrorism/WMD in 2007.

0: People killed in the USA by terrorism/WMD in 2006.

0: People killed in the USA by terrorism/WMD in 2005.

0: People killed in the USA by terrorism/WMD in 2004.

0: People  killed in the USA by terrorism/WMD in 2003.

0: People  killed in the USA by terrorism/WMD in 2002.

2,752:  People killed in USA by terrorism in 2001 (all on “9/11″).

0: People  killed in the USA by terrorism/WMD in 2000.                                                                                                                          (WMD = weapons of mass destruction)

Thus it can be seen that in 10 years, more folk will have been killed taking a bath in the U.S.A, than killed by a terrorist.

Have bath tubs been taken out of circulation?  No.

So why does ‘terrorism’ take such prominent, center stage?

‘Terrorism’, by its very nature, is a mixture of violence and theater. It accomplishes its immediate goal by setting a time-honored trap. This trap is for an organized society to overreact. (Dipak K. Gupta)

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S.A quickly decided to invade Afghanistan and Iraq attempting to punish the guilty and protect the American public from future attacks.

At what cost?

According to the Congressional Research Service, the war (on terror) effort itself has had a price tag of $409 billion so far.

The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and anti terrorist efforts abroad could cost the country $2.4 trillion over the next ten years.

It does not include the Pentagon’s normal spending, which in 2007, was estimated to be about $450 billion.

Fighting terrorism continues to be one of the fastest-growing items in the Government’s budget.  By the end of this financial year, the whole cost of anti-terrorist initiatives, taking in everything from education programs to undercover police work, will have risen to $2.5bn a year.  By 2010-11, that figure will be up to $3.5bn – more than three times what it was at the start of the decade.

Now, let’s compare these figures and costs with car crashes.

There were nearly 6,420,000 vehicle crashes in the United States in 2005. The financial cost of these crashes is more than 230 billion dollars.

As a result, 2.9 million people were injured and 42,636 people killed.  About 115 people die every day in vehicle crashes in the United states – one death every 13 minutes.

Why?

Whereas explosives are often used in a terrorist act; alcohol plays a major role in car accidents.

In 2006, there were 13,470 fatalities in crashes involving an alcohol-impaired driver – 32 percent of total traffic fatalities for the year. The figures were almost the same as alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities reported in 1996.

Ten years of progress?

The 13,470 fatalities in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes during 2006, represented an average of one alcohol-impaired-driving fatality every 39 minutes.

Every 39 minutes – wow!

And 26 percent of all road traffic accidents involve children and adolescents.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), measures that address speed and alcohol use among all road users would save many of these children’s lives.(6)

Now, you’d expect the U.S. government to come down hard on these figures wouldn’t you? After all, it has invaded 2 countries on the premise of stopping ‘terrorists’ from killing its citizens.

What about all these civilians being killed by cars?

What’s it doing to curtail these dreadful figures?

As for drunk driving, the punishments vary significantly from state to state. All drink driving offenses carry potential jail sentences. However, most first offenders are given lesser punishments, such as driver’s license restrictions, fines, mandatory attendance of drunk driver’s education classes, mandatory attendance of “Alcoholics Anonymous” meetings or alcohol counseling, community service, or probation.

Hardly a great deterrent.

What can be done to reduce the car crash generally?

Should we put more police on the road? Add lanes to reduce congestion? Reduce speed limits? Educate children on safety? Test the road skills of seniors? Put high-tech stuff into cars? Subsidize rail and buses to reduce car use? Provide bicycle lanes? Build subways to diminish exposure? Do more research?

Myth: Spending more money on roads makes us safer.

Fact: Spending more money on roads encourages more trips to be made by car, and fewer by public transport, walking or cycling. Increased traffic volumes mean more crashes, regardless of how big the roads are. (7)

“Overall there is nothing wrong with the modern car. Nor is there anything very wrong with our roads. Despite the criticisms, we have relatively safe roads…. Rather, it is the lack of preparation for the journey and the aggressive, irrational, often non-thinking behavior that all too often characterizes the driver.

Put simply, our road death toll is high because we are not using our brains”.
—Emeritus Professor Roger Rees, Flinders University School of Medicine. (8)

So, is it time to start using our brains and take the car driver off the road?

It seems the individual driver cannot be trusted. Is it time to start thinking of an alternative public transportation system?

To achieve this aim, there have to be better options available than there are at present before a car owner will readily forgo his beloved car.

Getting to a destination point quicker, in comfort and for free, may help.

One innovation that’s currently receiving attention is the “EPORO*1“. This is the abbreviation of EPisode O (Zero) Robot (Episode aiming to be CO2-free and accident-free), robotic car concept.

Made in Japan, incorporating breakthrough technology, Nissan have developed the world’s first robot car that can travel in a group by sharing the position and information of others within a group via communication technologies.

The car is designed to travel in a group of like-vehicles, mimicking the behavioral patterns of a school of fish in avoiding obstacles without colliding with each other.

Generically, fish recognize the surroundings based on lateral-line sense and sense of sight and form schools based on three behavior rules.

Fish Behavior Rules
AREA 1: Collision Avoidance
Change traveling direction without colliding with other fish.
AREA 2: Traveling Side-by-Side
Travel side-by-side with other fish while keeping a certain distance between each fish (to match the speed).
AREA 3: Approaching
Gain closer proximity to other fish that are at a distance from them.

A laser range finder is used for lateral-line sense, while UWB communications technology is utilized for the sense of sight.

Another innovation proposed for faster, and safer mass transit, is the overland subway systems based on MAGLEV, or magnetic levitation.  This is a system of transportation that suspends, guides and propels vehicles, predominantly trains, using levitation from a very large number of magnets for lift and propulsion. The technology has the potential to exceed 4,000 mph (6,437 km/h) if deployed in an evacuated tube (i.e. in vacuum environment).

Evacuated tubes (ETT) run along a travel route  for both directions with capsules  to transport occupants or cargo within the tubes. It comprises equipment providing continuous transfer to tube while preserving vacuum; capsule suspension  that substantially eliminates drag;

It is well known that space craft in outer space travel with virtually no drag; the speed is limited only by energy requirements. Once a spacecraft is up to speed, it can coast for years at ultra high speed using no energy for propulsion. The fuel required to get a space vehicle into orbit weighs many times more than the vehicle.

Only a small percentage of the energy that a plane or car uses is actually used to accelerate the vehicle. None of this energy is recovered when deceleration takes place; it is dissipated in the form of heat and sound as the speed is reduced. With ETT Aerodynamic limitations, weather exposure, and obstacles are essentially eliminated.

evacuated tube travel

ETT could provide continuous, environmentally benign, sustainable, local and international travel.  (9)

And why can’t it be free?

ETT is the most cost efficient method of travel between two points on earth, for traffic volume over approximately 12,000 vehicles per day and distances over about 10 miles. At a given speed, the energy usage is the lowest possible.

The operating life is longer, and wear and tear less, than other forms of transportation, hence longer amortization is possible.

Can these technologies be incorporated into every day mass transit logistics?

The initial cost may be high, but hey, if we can spend billions of dollars on chasing terrorists and fighting wars, while billions of $ are lost on car crash accidents, then surely the cost can be equated.

Benefits of Evacuated Tube Transport (ETT).

It’s time for our politicians to act and address this situation.

However unglamorous its cause, a death’s a death after all.

When 115 people are killed every day due to car accidents, something ought to be done to protect the public and curb this terror from within.

If this means taking the car out of human hands because they cannot be  trusted, then so be it.

See related articles,

‘9/11: Case for the Prosecution?’

9/11: Time To Move On?

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Thank you

Ann Margrain

Founder, ‘Heroin and Cornflakes’ blog.

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Useful links

Latest News

Newswise — About 3.5 million motor vehicle crash victims were treated in emergency departments in 2006 for injuries ranging from scrapes and bruises to life-threatening trauma, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Roughly 85 percent, or 3 million, of the crash victims were treated and released, while another 321,000 were admitted or transferred to another acute care hospital for inpatient care. About 8,000 victims died in the emergency department.

The federal agency’s analysis of motor vehicle accident victims treated in hospital emergency departments in 2006 also found that:

• Thirty-seven percent of crash victims were treated in hospital trauma centers that were equipped to provide comprehensive emergency medical care to people who suffer life-threatening injuries. The remaining patients were treated in hospitals not designated as trauma centers.
• About 25 percent of the victims were uninsured; 55 percent had private health insurance; 10 percent were covered under Medicaid; 4 percent, under Medicare; and the remaining 7 percent had other types of coverage.
• Sprains accounted for 44 percent of the injuries treated; superficial injuries such as scrapes, accounted for 35 percent; open wounds 10 percent; and head injuries accounted for 5 percent of the motor vehicle injuries seen in the emergency department. Other types of injuries included fractures (about 15 percent) and internal injuries of the thorax, abdomen and pelvis (3 percent).

This AHRQ News and Numbers is based on data in Emergency Department Visits Associated with Motor Vehicle Accidents, 2006 (http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb84.pdf). The report uses statistics from the 2007 Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a database of hospital inpatient stays that is nationally representative of inpatient stays in all short-term, non-Federal hospitals. The data are drawn from hospitals that comprise 90 percent of all discharges in the United States and include all patients, regardless of insurance type, as well as the uninsured.

http://www.et3.com/

http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/NEWS/2009/_STORY/091001-01-e.html

Evacuated Tube Transport Technologies- (this website) – the portal for development and implementation of Evacuated Tube Transport Technologies (et3).

SwissMetro – The first company to organize for the purpose of developing ground based  travel in a reduced pressure environment.  The concept is to construct massive underground tunnels that Transrapid-style maglev trains can run in.  The tunnels are operated at reduced pressure to simulate an altitude of approximately 18,000m altitude that the Concord SST flies at.

RUMBA: Tube Underground Magnetic Levitation Railway – A proposal for a passenger magnetic levitation based railway. Includes analysis of design requirements, network components, and implementation.

Fast Tube System – Details a system where capsules are propelled along pipes by means of a rope-way. Includes an introduction and technical brief.

MagTube – This proposal is the most like ETT.  Some differences are: The switching and levitation requires active electronically controlled electromagnetic elements, and  the vehicle size is a little larger and heavier.

This entry was posted Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 3:41 pm and is filed under general. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.